Implementing Rational Spirituality : A Brave New World

"You tried to convince me of three major points so far, Swami:

One, spirituality is desirable and everybody rightly craves for it; Two, prevalent spiritual beliefs do not comply with reason and science much; Three, established rational ideologies don’t really defy spirituality.

But I am still not clear why you are insisting on being rational while practicing spirituality...”

“I must insist, because it is our duty to be rational. I wouldn't have suggested you to be rational, had you been a part of a theocratic or insular society. We are fortunate enough to express ourselves freely and fairly, practice any faith and follow any philosophical system.

So, you have to realize how privileged you are. Mind you, you are a lot luckier than many individuals across the glob, even the thinking patterns of whom are being dictated by the state. Here, I am not asking you to defy God or existing religious beliefs blindly; all I am asking you is just to validate everything you hear. We know there are still some societies authoritative enough to amuse themselves by chopping of your limbs and genitals or stoning you to death just for the ostensibly inexcusable sin of thinking free. For them, it is blasphemous – let it be. In such societies driven by religious values, it may be a sin to think rationally; but it is even deplorable a sin to do otherwise in an open society.”

 “But Swami, we are humans and we are special, aren’t we? Why can’t we consider we have some special access to some inexplicable realms of spirituality? You are again speaking as if we are just animals with an advanced brain…”

“Of course- that is what we really are: smart animals! How dare you think we are different from the rest of reality?

Going by the simplest explanation of life, you and all the rest of beings on earth have all started the journey from the light brown "primordial soup" formed somewhere in this blue planet which again is nothing more than another speck of dirt that found its separate existence from another bigger material formation during a tryst with one of the numerous bodies drifting and swirling all around aimlessly. How can you think you are macrocosmically special?

Progressive evolution might have conditioned your brain so as to help you claim incontestable intellectual superiority in this planet, but you still share around a highly dismal 99% of your DNA with the plant you water, the housefly you spat to death and the horse you ride on. How can you think you are genetically special?

You share your existence with some 30 million distinct forms of life here, while there is an estimated probability of at least a million of like ecosystems within the very galaxy you and me live in, and if you try extending this number to the known limits of universe, the best of number crunching machines you have would proverbially fret. How can you think you are biologically so unique?

How can you think you are physically special when physical sciences say even your absolute position in this universe cannot ever be estimated since there is no real frame of reference and every single mention of material positioning in this cosmos is relative ?

All the pursuits of genuine, natural, scientific or even metaphysical theories underline till it pierces page that despite all our dreams, hallucinations, delusions, whims and desires, the objective reality stands, with majestic elusiveness but magnanimous accessibility. You are a part of the grand reality. You are just not exceptional.”

“All right – then tell me how does rational spirituality add value to my life”?

 “The problem we discuss is one that every one of us faces - the reluctance to live consciously. Conscious living is the quality of knowing what you are doing any given point in time while you are aware as to why you are doing it. But it is not necessarily as simple as it may sound. It takes immense perseverance and a formidable but natural inclination for delayed gratification to be a conscious survivor. Some of us are simply scared to take this up challenge.

Still, many of us lead a consciously rational material life, by planning our career, family, investments and retirement life. That is good and essential. We simply apply sheer commonsense and simple cause-effect paradigms here: We know we are heading for a potential trouble if we don’t invest. We know we won’t be able to clear our exams if we don’t study properly.

But there is another dimension to conscious living. Conscious living is not only about leading a life with a blueprint of actions for years to come, but is also about how you define its meaning. When you conceive the idea of adding some meaning to your life and relentlessly pursue the truth, I would call it a consciously rational spiritual life. And mind you - this is entirely different from the sort of spiritual existence that religions teach. It is different from the purported spirituality practiced by an astounding majority of the world population who visit places of worship with a closed mind and zombie like trance - either because they are supposed to do that or in order to ensure so sort of divine assistance to their actions.

Irrational spiritually is no better than intoxication. Anything that cheats reason and logic is self-deceiving if not self-destructive. It is an insult to our being as an intelligent species. It is like living an intellectually vegetated existence. It is like ascribing our brain - the kernel of all human achievements - the status of a mere cuspidor.

Rational spirituality has something else to offer. The most important sine qua non of this genre of spiritually conscious life is reason. Being rationally spiritual is to be in a relentless pursuit of truth and wisdom, while consciously taking the pain of rationally appraising every bit of information we get and reaching a conclusion using both our inherent and acquired systems of logic. It is the process of disengaging our day- old irrational 'auto pilot' and switching over to a smarter but less familiar mode of operating life, thereby taking absolute control of our material, intellectual and emotional existence.

I would sound a bit unconvincing when I say the best way to stay "connected" spiritually is to be "grounded" seamlessly. Connectedness here is quest of the ultimate with your entire intellectual prowess and Groundedness is the usage of reason and Science as means the means of doing it. Einstein had expressed his way of doing this: “I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature”

“Can you give me a model to follow?”

“Spirituality is about supreme pleasure, and supreme pleasure is about supreme awareness. The biggest testimony to this argument is the life of the greatest of all Gurus who taught the world the ends and means of Spirituality: Buddha!

Buddha's greatest spiritual achievement is his attainment of the "enlightenment". Now, tell me - what was that state of enlightenment here? Did he see God?  Did he now start snaffling ashes straight out of thin air?  Did he start bending spoons by looking at them? Do you believe he managed to lift himself up a few feet from the ground on attainment of this?

No - there was no difference in his abilities but one after getting enlightened: that he now "knows”! He now knows why he is here. He now knows what life does mean and does not mean. He now knows what constitutes miseries of the world. He knows himself!

Goal of spiritual pursuit is knowledge. Ultimate goal of spiritual pursuit is ultimate knowledge. I know some would like to ease their task by calling this ultimate knowledge God. Let their belief save them - if everybody knows it already, why to pursue!”

”Are you asking me to be a Buddhist?”

“Oh, no - absolutely not! I am not recommending Buddhism the religion, but just instancing such a life by Buddha the man. Neither have I asked you to renounce everything the way Siddhartha did.

He walked on this planet some two and a half millennia back. All he is said to have attained though his apparent spiritual sojourn were undoubtedly influenced by the cumulative human wisdom till his time. 

But we live in a different point in time.

We are now bestowed with a boundlessly huge delta of information since the time of Siddhartha.  We have to, by all means, do justice to that. We cannot just stamp down millions and millions of minds that contributed to our collective knowledge in-between.

Had Buddha been alive in the age of scientific awakening, I imagine, he being a genuine seeker truth, his interpretation of world would have been a lot different!  He would take evolution into consideration. He would also consider all theories about formation of the cosmos. He would try to understand Genome. He would also be impelled to consider the way our lives have changed since - new wars, new rulers, new lands, new politics, new life-styles, new attires, new preferences, new media, new transport, new deceases and hence new problems!

So, Buddha's pursuit for an answer to worldly problems would find a new context. And, with all respect to the eternal significance of his teaching, it is wise and safe to presume that he may have to find further answers to the problems, again by yet another intellectual-spiritual sojourn.”

“Well, tell me then – how can I put rational spirituality in practice? “

“Who am I to advise you; I am just a friend! But if you ask me what I think I would do to implement this in my life, here is my answer:

I would indulge in extensive sessions of critical but sensible introspection and put in my best efforts to elucidate what my current idea of spirituality is. Then I would conform whatever concepts I have, no matter however crude or ingrained they are, into the purest form of self-enquiry in such a way that it assists me in my attempts integrate myself with truth and reality.

In the process, I would entirely do away with all my ideological prejudices and intellectual rigidity. I may not succeed, but I would be an unabated optimist throughout. Science and reason, along with all cumulative human wisdom, would be my guides, while my senses, mind, soul and intellect would be set free to awe the grandness of the unknown.

I conceive my journey to be a self- propagating spiral of positivity - every open door I see I will enter, every extra bit of knowledge will stimulate me, every tiny accomplishment will be celebrated, every moment will be cherished.  In the pursuit, I will happily succumb to the inevitable.

Thrilling, isn't it?”

(Concluded)